Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On The President's Remarks Regarding the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act

August 23, 2004
The President's remarks concerning his signing of the McCain-Feingold bill lack candor at best.
The McCain-Feingold bill dealt only with political party soft money and phony issue ads run within 60 days of the general election, not with the so-called 527 groups. The President knew that. In fact, in his signing statement in March of 2002, the President even objected to the fact that our bill prohibited individuals as well as corporations and unions from contributing soft money to the political parties. The 527 issue has nothing to do with the McCain-Feingold bill; it is caused by the failure of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to enforce the law that has been in effect since 1974.
Senator McCain and I strongly urged the FEC to address the issues raised by 527s in this election cycle, but the FEC has chosen to abdicate its responsibility to enforce the 1974 law. 527 groups that are dedicated to defeating the President or Senator Kerry should be registering as federal political committees (PACs) and abiding by the contribution limits that apply under federal law. Clearly, legislative intervention is needed because the FEC has failed to do its job.